SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Heart of the Homily podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We are back.
SPEAKER_00: This is Michelle Lopez, and I'm here with our pastor, Father Rigova.
SPEAKER_03: How's it going, Michelle?
SPEAKER_00: Doing good.
SPEAKER_00: It has been a wonderful break, but I'm so happy to be to be back.
SPEAKER_03: How was your summer?
SPEAKER_00: Summer was good.
SPEAKER_00: I saw Abila.
SPEAKER_03: She's got a little bit of color.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00: She is a tan little girl and walking and running and talking.
SPEAKER_03: She is a little monster.
SPEAKER_00: She's got a lot to say.
SPEAKER_03: Very cute.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: So she's kept me busy and um so good summer.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Did you get some rest, Father?
SPEAKER_03: I did.
SPEAKER_03: I just got back and um it was a wonderful time.
SPEAKER_03: I was able to pray, read.
SPEAKER_03: Um I saw the head of the Catholic Church, the vicar of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, no big deal.
SPEAKER_03: Pope.
SPEAKER_00: Father, that photo was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: I freaked out a little bit.
SPEAKER_03: It was an incredible experience.
SPEAKER_03: Um one that I will not soon forget.
SPEAKER_03: And I keep playing in my mind the conversation that we had.
SPEAKER_03: It's just, it's, it's like this surreal moment, right?
SPEAKER_03: Um, but what a blessing.
SPEAKER_03: Our church is so beautiful and amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Did you mention uh your parish here at St.
SPEAKER_00: Augustine?
SPEAKER_03: Of course.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, nice.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, good.
SPEAKER_00: So I just wanted to see if Pope Leo thought about us.
SPEAKER_00: So it sounds like he did.
SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks for bringing home the graces.
SPEAKER_00: And um, and it's great to be back in our podcast.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, ready to get back on the horse here and get busy with uh with a lot of work that we got to do.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, awesome.
SPEAKER_00: So this weekend we're opening up um a real powerful scripture.
SPEAKER_00: I love how this is always in August because I feel like around the walking on water, it's always in August, and I feel like it's timely just because it's about when things kick off to go crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Like the storm is about to approach.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's like a great reminder of like, I don't know what Jesus wants to say as we approach just the busyness of the season of the falling back together.
SPEAKER_00: So we'll start off by looking at the gospel of Matthew.
SPEAKER_00: I'll read it.
SPEAKER_00: It's from Matthew 14, um, 22 to 33.
SPEAKER_00: After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and proceed him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds.
SPEAKER_00: After doing so, he went up on the mountain to pray by by himself to pray.
SPEAKER_00: When it was evening, he was there alone.
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.
SPEAKER_00: During the fourth watch of the night he came toward them walking on the sea.
SPEAKER_00: When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified.
SPEAKER_00: It is a ghost, they said.
SPEAKER_00: They cried out in fear.
SPEAKER_00: At once Jesus spoke to them, Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Peter said to him in reply, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Come.
SPEAKER_00: Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water towards Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But when he saw how strong the wind was, he became afraid and began to sink.
SPEAKER_00: He cried out, Lord, save me.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter and said to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?
SPEAKER_00: After they got into the boat, the wind died down, and those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, Truly you are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, so good.
SPEAKER_00: So good.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, you really opened up the scripture in such a beautiful way for all of us over the weekend, too.
SPEAKER_00: So would love to just kind of highlight.
SPEAKER_00: I've read this gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, you talk so much about just different elements in the scripture that I think is overlooked at times.
SPEAKER_00: You just you get caught up in like the drama of Peter walking on water and Jesus is walking on water.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't I don't know, you highlighted a couple of sentences, and I I think for at least for me, I was like, oh, that's so interesting.
SPEAKER_03: Like well, you know what happened with me was when I was uh starting to read this gospel, um, I stayed at the very beginning of it because um something struck me that had never I had never thought about before.
SPEAKER_03: And it says, Matthew's gospel says Jesus made the disciples get into the boat.
SPEAKER_03: I was like, made?
SPEAKER_03: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_03: Uh it was like Jesus points the boat is this get in.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Right.
SPEAKER_03: And so that kind of like started this whole thinking process of um storms, that Jesus has you where he wants you to be in your life.
SPEAKER_03: Um because the dis he made the disciples get in, but he knew that they were going to suffer.
SPEAKER_03: They he knew they were gonna have a rough time that uh in those open waters, that there was gonna be storms.
SPEAKER_03: And as I mentioned in the in in the homily, we have this tendency to think that if we're doing God's will and we're doing our prayers and we're faithful, that our life should be easy, that the road should be smooth.
SPEAKER_03: And what happens to a lot of people is that when there is that problem, when there is that storm, even a tiny storm, you start to say, Oh, well, God doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_03: Because if God existed or if if God is real or or whatever, then he wouldn't allow me to go through this because he knows that I'm being faithful.
SPEAKER_03: Why would he treat someone like that?
SPEAKER_03: Like that famous uh line from Teresa Vavila, right?
SPEAKER_03: She's in her little carriage there, and the wheel comes out and she's down in a ditch, and she says, Well, no wonder you don't have any friends.
SPEAKER_03: She tells God, right?
SPEAKER_03: So that's kind of where it started, and that's how, and like you said, it was kind of like it took me on a different path than how I had preached this gospel in the past.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Because um, in the past I had preached about this, you know, Jesus walking on the water, and um, so it was it was completely different this Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I thought um the opportunity to look at um the fact that if we're in a storm, that maybe it's not something that we should need to run from or think that something's wrong, what you're highlighting, but faithfulness doesn't remove the storm, but it could put you right there for a reason, for a purpose, you know, and for something for God's glory to be manifested, like it was, you know, when Jesus calmed the storm and walked on water and all this drama drama happened in the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: Well, I think that it's it is only in a storm or when you're going through a real difficulty that your soul prays differently.
SPEAKER_03: That truths are differ are revealed to you in a different way.
SPEAKER_03: And so even the way you process the world, you process life, you process your your your relationship with the Lord is different when there is a struggle or difficulty than when the sea me when the seas are calm.
SPEAKER_03: It's different, it's just different.
SPEAKER_03: Um and and so that's what I was trying to bring out that you may be going through a storm right now, and a lot of people are.
SPEAKER_03: I just got a text message, not even 10 minutes ago, someone that comes here and she says she's going through a very hard time, and that in two weeks she has to have surgery.
SPEAKER_03: But she says that when I started preaching, that all of a sudden she heard Jesus speaking to her in very comforting in a very comforting way.
SPEAKER_03: That blows my mind.
SPEAKER_03: It's just like insane how beautiful that is.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that is beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And it makes me think of what a um like when we're in a difficult season, that is not proof that I I failed or did something wrong, but it's an invitation like Jesus is there inviting me to something.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a waste of my time, right?
SPEAKER_00: You know, but it's like something's happening, and to shift my gaze to the Lord to say, like, okay, what are you up to in the middle of this storm?
SPEAKER_03: You know, yeah, and that's what I said too in the in the homily.
SPEAKER_03: I was saying the disciples had to look at this and say, Okay, this was not a punishment.
SPEAKER_03: We didn't make a wrong turn, we didn't do anything to upset.
SPEAKER_03: It was this realization, um, well, you are where Jesus put you or where Jesus does Jesus wants you to be.
SPEAKER_00: Um And that's such that's such um an invitation to trust because I love what you're saying, which is they could think and be like, wait, Jesus made me get in this boat.
SPEAKER_00: So like, will I trust or will I start abandoning, you know, right the Lord and thinking that He did He, you know, didn't know that this was gonna happen or that He's not really Lord of Lords.
SPEAKER_00: Um but what a what a shift Um that was made there.
SPEAKER_00: And so one of the lines, Father, from your from your homily, that really was um incredible too, is the disciples could not see the mountain from the boat, but Jesus could see the boat from the mountain.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that that you know, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_03: Jesus is doing three things simultaneously.
SPEAKER_03: And I love this observation because in this one scene, Jesus is operating on three different levels at once.
SPEAKER_03: And that's what I was trying to flesh out.
SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, he's just fed the crowds, he's done this huge miracle, feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish.
SPEAKER_03: How do you do that, right?
SPEAKER_03: But he's also so he's just fed the people on the mountain uh uh in the multiplication of of uh of the loaves, and he's praying on the mountain and he's watching over the disciples.
SPEAKER_03: And I love that.
SPEAKER_03: It's like these three things that he's doing simultaneously.
SPEAKER_03: He never gets distracted, and so he's feeding, interceding, and governing all at the same time.
SPEAKER_03: And that's what I want.
SPEAKER_03: Hopefully, what I wanted people to get out of that is that that's what he's doing today.
SPEAKER_03: That's what he's continuing to do.
SPEAKER_03: He nourishes us with the Eucharist, he intercedes before the Father.
SPEAKER_03: And if you go to the book the book of Hebrews, Hebrew says he always lives to make intercession for us.
SPEAKER_03: Isn't that beautiful?
SPEAKER_03: That is beautiful, and then he governs and governs his church, so it reminds us that Christ's ascension wasn't his retirement, that he'd, oh, I'm going back to the Father, have a good life, see how well it all works out for you.
SPEAKER_03: No, his heavenly ministry is active.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes we forget that.
SPEAKER_03: And it was that idea that they couldn't see from the boat, but he could see clearly from the mountain.
SPEAKER_03: I see you.
SPEAKER_03: I got you.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: Um but I love that whole three he's doing three things simultaneous, simultaneously at the same time.
SPEAKER_03: And also, you know, the mountain is not an accident because in the in the gospel of Matthew, Matthew often places Jesus on the mountain.
SPEAKER_03: And mountains are where heaven and earth meet.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, if if you think of the scriptures, Moses receives a law on a mountain, right?
SPEAKER_03: Elijah encounters God on a mountain, Jesus preaches the Beatitudes on a mountain, Jesus is transfigured, and then Jesus gives the Great Commission on a mountain.
SPEAKER_03: Um so I think that mountains are places of revelation, and so while the disciples are below in chaos and um Christ is above in communion with the Father, it teaches us something like a really beautiful lesson because our storms are often fought horizontally.
SPEAKER_03: That's how we see it, right?
SPEAKER_03: So it's horizontally, but Jesus is fighting them vertically because prayer always precedes mission.
SPEAKER_03: And how do we apply that?
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: How do we apply that in in our day-to-day?
SPEAKER_03: Because hopefully that's what we're doing with these podcasts.
SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to do that with uh with my daily homilies, which by the way, if you're not listening to Daily Homilies, listen to daily homilies.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, um they're short and sweet and pack a punch.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they're so good, it takes a lot to do, but I'm enjoying doing them, and so I hope that people are listening.
SPEAKER_03: But it's that whole journey in the faith and being able to be disciplined, structured, and make your prayer life, make your faith life the most important thing that you're doing in the day.
SPEAKER_03: And it's part of what we're we're talking about here.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, so kind of going a little bit more into what you're talking about, yes.
SPEAKER_00: I think like this is um you actually said something that caught my attention.
SPEAKER_00: You said, God is um rarely early according to my schedule, but he's never been late.
SPEAKER_00: And when you think about like the storm and the mount, like he's in the mountain, the storm's happening.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it feels like Jesus is late.
SPEAKER_00: If you know, like I don't know, it feels like he's like, Hey, did you not see that for a couple hours?
SPEAKER_00: We're almost dying.
SPEAKER_00: Like I feel the apostles in their, you know, in their worry there, but I love what you're inviting us to, which is like a confidence that um, yeah, like God is always on time.
SPEAKER_03: And never I love what you're saying, and I think it correlates to the fourth watch, right?
SPEAKER_03: Because I think that that's an important detail.
SPEAKER_03: Uh Matthew didn't throw that in there just by chance, right?
SPEAKER_03: Oh, let me mention it was the fourth.
SPEAKER_03: No, it's for a reason, and um, you know, and there's another interpretation because the fathers of the church often interpreted the fourth watch as representing the final age of salvation history.
SPEAKER_03: And you know, I didn't want to go into that um in the homily, but it's creation, Israel, the prophets, then Christ comes in the fourth watch.
SPEAKER_03: That's how the that that's how the church fathers would teach it.
SPEAKER_03: And you know, the timing isn't just about 3 a.m., but that the the whole 3 a.m., 4 a.m.
SPEAKER_03: is symbolic because humanity has reached its darkest hour before the Messiah appears.
SPEAKER_03: So you see how there's that um in salvation history, there's a line, right?
SPEAKER_03: And so Jesus comes on the fourth watch, and then Matthew often layers symbols, meaning that have meaning like this.
SPEAKER_03: Um so I think that that was very fascinating because if we then break that down and bring it into our own lives, like what you were talking about, um we want everything on our timetable, on our schedule.
SPEAKER_03: And we've talked a lot about this.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, we've we talk about control and um, but God has never been late when he needed to be there.
SPEAKER_03: Like his mercy is there when you need it.
SPEAKER_03: Why?
SPEAKER_03: Because, like I mentioned, was that he gives us his presence first because the problem may not be solved, the situation may not be um taken care of, but he's giving us his presence first.
SPEAKER_03: And so I I think that that's that's a very important key to understanding our own walk of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And even the the marvelous fact that Peter walked on water, like if Jesus came earlier, maybe he that it would have looked different, you know, and so just even Jesus' timing and coming to them on the on the water.
SPEAKER_03: Um, flesh that out.
SPEAKER_03: I really like the what you're saying.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I think I think about God never being late.
SPEAKER_00: And again, in that scenario, if I was the disciples, I was like, where is this guy?
SPEAKER_00: You know, like where is he?
SPEAKER_00: And then him showing up, um, just recognizing that God knew what was going on in their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, he knew where their fears were.
SPEAKER_00: And he came at a moment where Peter's Peter could overcome fear and walk.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, it's just like incredible if you think like Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: It's I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: So I I think with that too, it's just like, okay, if you trust in the Lord's timing and things like that will happen, you know, in the middle of a storm, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or you think despair, but but then you see God's miracles.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I think that you, you know, maybe Peter doesn't fail because of doubt.
SPEAKER_03: I think that there's something subtle to that because the text doesn't actually say Peter doubted first.
SPEAKER_03: I was thinking about that because uh what Matthew says is when he saw the wind, and that was something that I was trying to flesh out, like he got distracted because the wind had been blowing all night anyway.
SPEAKER_03: So it can't be all of a sudden he's scared of the wind or a frightened because of uh of uh of the storm.
SPEAKER_03: He's been in the storm.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Um so what I was trying to say is he's moved his eyes, his attention has shifted, fear has entered now, and then there's the doubt.
SPEAKER_03: So fear follows misplaced attention.
SPEAKER_03: And I think that that's important because that that's that's an important order psychologically and spiritually, because you know, the Christian life isn't about trying harder, it's about looking longer at Christ, staying focused.
SPEAKER_03: Why?
SPEAKER_03: Because there's so much noise.
SPEAKER_00: So much noise.
SPEAKER_03: And it's gonna distract us, and and that's when we get into trouble.
SPEAKER_03: Because when you think that you can do it on your own, and when it's up to your own agency and your own uh whatever uh abilities that you have, you're gonna get you're gonna feel it.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna sink.
SPEAKER_03: You're gonna sink, exactly right.
SPEAKER_03: And um, but if you're able to say in your humility, say, no, my focus is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: I see him, he is there, he's always been there, he sees me from the mountain, right?
SPEAKER_03: And I think it's important to recognize that as well.
SPEAKER_00: And that truth, Father, is so freeing, because I remember um years ago that the scripture was spoke deeply into my heart in that particular way where I was having like anxiety for a little bit of time, and I was realizing, like the Lord was saying, like, what are you thinking about all day?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And I was not like thinking about him or about truth.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about all these fears and all these yeah, like everything that was stirring anxiety, every yeah, and it was amazing because it was it was this scripture, it was like, you're like your gaze needs to come back to me.
SPEAKER_00: And if you keep your gaze on me, like the wind and the rain and this like the things around you, like I'm gonna take care of and quiet down.
SPEAKER_00: But it was attention, you know, like where is where am I spending my thoughts and my where is my gaze?
SPEAKER_00: And like so the scripture is so powerful for that because if we have our gaze on Jesus, the the things that God can do in and through us, right, it's gonna you walk on water.
SPEAKER_00: You do things that you could never could have imagined, you know, and have peace and confidence in the Lord because the Lord is the one that you're looking at, not on the other things around us that are trying to grab our attention or um give us fear or provoke, you know, anxiety.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that that's a powerful testament there because it is about placing our eyes fixed on him and having that focus and and the attention because if you you're truly, truly present to him and he's number one and he's your priority, then all these other things, yeah, they have they they're gonna bother you and you're gonna have but it's not gonna be as because okay, I'm with the one who's gonna take care of it.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and you know, and I think that when you go through this gospel, you see that the storm changes the disciples.
SPEAKER_03: And that's the shift that you're talking about.
SPEAKER_03: Like and and it I think that that's my favorite observation because if you notice what actually changes, the storm, well, eventually the storm changes, right?
SPEAKER_03: It quiets down.
SPEAKER_03: Peter, well, he changes momentarily, but the disciples change permanently.
SPEAKER_03: Um, because before the storm, they they admired Jesus, they loved what he was doing.
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure they they were hanging on every word he had to say, they were following him everywhere.
SPEAKER_03: But after the storm, what happens?
SPEAKER_03: They worship him and um they fall down on their knees.
SPEAKER_03: And that's enormous.
SPEAKER_03: That I that's a powerful realization because if you really think about they're walking around, they're they're seeing a lot of people, they're walking great distances to from town to town, and these miracles must have impressed them.
SPEAKER_03: But the storm converted them.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes suffering accomplishes what blessings never could.
SPEAKER_03: Because they were in that that storm, and maybe they were thinking, Oh, we're not gonna live anymore.
SPEAKER_03: We're we're this is it, we're in a really bad situation.
SPEAKER_03: Um and so I really believe that the storms converted them.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, uh that makes sense, and it's I think it's such a perspective shift for for myself and for everyone listening, like looking at storms or being able to trust that the Lord will only bring the storms that will convert us.
SPEAKER_00: Like they're there for our destruction.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's never gonna and I I think having that that confidence and being able to face you know, instead of praying for things to go away, like oh Lord, can you just take this away?
SPEAKER_00: Instead of that prayer, being able to say, like, Lord, can you just can you give me the courage and the wisdom to see this through through your eyes?
SPEAKER_00: Like that shift and even the prayer when we face storms, you know, instead of take this away, yeah to be able to say, like, okay, Lord, well, if you allowed it, then like give me the courage to face it and to trust you're molding me through this and that God's not wasting your time, you know, He's not gonna waste storms.
SPEAKER_03: That's a beautiful observation, and and I think that that's why Peter's prayer is the perfect prayer.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: It's there's something fascinating about it because throughout scripture, the holiest prayers, if you think about it, they become shorter and shorter.
SPEAKER_03: Um, Matthew, the tax collector, what does he say is, God be merciful, the blind man, um, Jesus, son of David, the good thief, um, remember me, Lord.
SPEAKER_03: And then Peter, like from this gospel from this weekend, Lord save me.
SPEAKER_03: That's probably the most beautiful of all the prayers.
SPEAKER_03: Lord save me.
SPEAKER_03: That's why one of the things that I mentioned was that if you have nothing to give and you're absolutely bankrupt in the sense of spiritually, emotionally, whatever, and there's nothing else to give, that's your prayer.
SPEAKER_03: Lord save me.
SPEAKER_03: Because I'll tell you this: as people begin to mature spiritually and you're walking the walk and you're doing what you gotta do, and prayer often becomes simpler.
SPEAKER_03: You think it becomes more complicated.
SPEAKER_03: People think that prayer, when you're like this master of theology or master of uh of all this knowledge of the church, and it actually becomes simpler.
SPEAKER_00: That's so true, Father.
SPEAKER_03: Because the saints eventually pray with very few words.
SPEAKER_03: Why?
SPEAKER_03: Because they have learned trust.
SPEAKER_03: And when you trust, you don't have to convince yourself because the whole act of convincing is, oh Lord, if only if I can have this, and um and you're trying to negotiate these prayers or uh convince God of something or whatever it is, it's very lengthy and wordy, and we have like verbal diarrhea because it's just I need to convince Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: And and just and maybe you don't know what's happening in my life right now, Lord, but um, let me fill you in, yeah, right?
SPEAKER_03: So um, but I think that the I think that this prayer from Peter is the perfect prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And what you're saying, Father, I think is the prayer gets simpler because you get rid of all the BS.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: I I feel like just kind of thinking about my own life of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like that's what happened.
SPEAKER_00: I just kind of got rid of like the rationalization or the you know, trying to um convince God of and it just became more simple, like you were saying.
SPEAKER_00: And I think those are really things to hold on to is even like Lord save me, like what is what does that mean for you in this moment of your life?
SPEAKER_00: And just being able to really yeah, allow your heart to speak that in a deeper way and and let that happen um with whatever your situation and circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: So wow, that's so beautiful.
SPEAKER_03: Also, too, um just one point that I I love uh after he says Lord save me, uh you mentioned this earlier where God's timing is perfect and but his mercy is always there for us because um Peter says Lord save me and immediately and I love how Matthew uses that word immediately Jesus catches Peter.
SPEAKER_03: Why?
SPEAKER_03: Because grace will always be faster than sin, always and the church fathers notice that Peter sank slower than Jesus reached.
SPEAKER_03: Why?
SPEAKER_03: Because God is never reluctant to forgive.
SPEAKER_03: And I just love that it I mean it's so consoling to any of us of the um of the immediate, how it was it's there.
SPEAKER_03: If you need it, it's gonna be there.
SPEAKER_03: Say that prayer, Lord say it's going to be there.
SPEAKER_03: Um you know, I was thinking just as I'm talking here, I'm thinking about there was a part in the homily that every time I delivered the homily this weekend, I got emotional.
SPEAKER_03: Like I felt inside like I was gonna break down.
SPEAKER_03: You know what part it was?
SPEAKER_03: No, it was a part where um where Jesus says, I am.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know why it touched me so much.
SPEAKER_03: Because um, you know, he's walking on the water and he says, Fear not, I am, be not afraid.
SPEAKER_03: But it's not, it's it goes so far beyond this.
SPEAKER_03: It's me, it's Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: Hey, why are you saying it's a ghost?
SPEAKER_03: No, don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_03: No, it goes way beyond that.
SPEAKER_03: It's I am God, I am your Lord, I am your savior, savior.
SPEAKER_03: Um and it that that is such a powerful, powerful image.
SPEAKER_03: When you stick with that and you pray with that, the great I am.
SPEAKER_03: Um I don't know, I don't know why it struck me so much about it, but it's just a such a powerful, powerful understanding of who Jesus is for us.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, that reaches all the way into the back of salvation history, you know, to use that I am, um, like you mentioned in your homily.
SPEAKER_03: And I think to divine nature, right?
SPEAKER_03: The divine nature of God.
SPEAKER_00: That I mean, in this scenario and story, has command over all of these elements of the storm.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's really, really powerful too, that he uses like I am, because it's also like he is God.
SPEAKER_00: So he like the storm, the wind, all this stuff, like he's got that.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's his stuff, you know.
SPEAKER_00: He like he created it, he has power over it, and kind of like nature is is subject to him.
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's I don't know, some some tie in that of remembering the same thing for our life, because that is true, you know, that's true for our life is Jesus is Lord over all those things, anything in our life that is the storm, you know, all nature, all anything, you know, it's it's the same thing that he's saying.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and that's I think that that's a good question that a lot of people probably have.
SPEAKER_03: Why didn't Jesus stop the storm before he got into the boat?
SPEAKER_00: Because for him, it wasn't a big deal.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, I think because his first desire is not to remove their suffering, right?
SPEAKER_03: But it's to reveal himself within it.
SPEAKER_03: So within it, he's saying, I am.
SPEAKER_03: You know, and that's why it struck me so hard.
SPEAKER_03: Because sometimes we think the greatest miracle is when God changes our circumstances.
SPEAKER_03: Well, it's not because what we're learning from the gospel this weekend is that there's something greater.
SPEAKER_03: The greatest miracle is when in the middle of the storm we come to know Christ more deeply than we ever could have on a very calm sea or when everything is going well.
SPEAKER_03: Because the disciples didn't leave that night simply relieved.
SPEAKER_03: And that's something that we got to really think about.
SPEAKER_03: No, they left worshiping, you truly are the Son of God, and they fell to their knees.
SPEAKER_03: You know, and perhaps that's God's deepest purpose in every storm that we face.
SPEAKER_03: That at the end of it, we're worship.
SPEAKER_03: Look, I'm thinking about somebody right now who went through a horrible four years.
SPEAKER_03: And at the end of those four years, he told me the other night, the most one of the most beautiful text messages.
SPEAKER_03: At the end of the of those four years, his faith has been so strengthened, and his love for the blessed mother has been so is now so profound and part of who he is.
SPEAKER_03: But it was only in that storm that he was able to really truly come to know who he is as a son of God, but his relationship with the Lord and what his faith means to him, and now how he has to live as a faithful disciple of Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: But all of that came because of the storm.
SPEAKER_00: That's so powerful.
SPEAKER_03: And and he just revealed that to me a couple days ago.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it makes me think of just what an invitation to us and our listeners, you know, whatever storm that we're facing, um, like to start making those prayers of like Lord save me.
SPEAKER_00: And then that shift from running from the storm to knowing that the greatest miracle that can happen is encountering God Himself in the storm.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and knowing that He is with you.
SPEAKER_00: Because if He is with you, if then everything else is simple, you know, everything else is not a big deal.
SPEAKER_00: Like I was saying earlier, it's like if if Jesus is with us, He is there, He's watching from the mountain, He could see you in that boat and He's praying for you, and um you're where you're supposed to be.
SPEAKER_03: That may not sound comforting, and that may be a hard truth for you to hear right now, but He's got you.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and He's the thing you need at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need the storm, like if you have him, the storm can keep raging and it's feel his presence.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, wow.
SPEAKER_00: So good.
SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for the this conversation.
SPEAKER_03: Well, this has been fun, Michelle.
SPEAKER_03: You know, I missed you.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I miss these conversations.
SPEAKER_03: They really uh well we're back on the saddle here and um looking forward to breaking open the homily and and the gospel with you week by week.
SPEAKER_03: Give us a uh a follow.
SPEAKER_03: Encourage others to listen to Heart of the Homily, spread the good news, spread the word.
SPEAKER_03: We want to be able to reach as many people as we can because our mission is your mission to bring people closer to Christ.
SPEAKER_03: We'll see you next week.
SPEAKER_03: Thanks.